Experiencing a place vicariously through a good book is the next-best thing to traveling (Photograph by april-mo, Flickr)

This fall, we’re seeing a heap of new #TripLit stocking the shelves, the kind of books that — no matter if they fall under the fiction, adventure, history, or foodie categories — open up the world and inspire us to make a break for new places and embrace new experiences.

So cuddle up with a cup of something warm and start turning the pages of one of these great new travel reads:

The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga, by Sylvain Tesson. “I promised myself that before I turned forty I would live as a hermit deep in the woods.” That’s how this Thoreau-esque memoir of six months spent on the shores of Lake Baikal starts out. In the end, the author does find solitude — along with a surprising number of colorful characters who are more than happy to share his vodka.

The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri. No surprise here: the Pulitzer Prize winner is racking up accolades for her tale of two especially close brothers in Calcutta whose paths diverge as young adults, one emigrating to the U.S. to attend university, the other getting involved in India’s revolutionary activist movement of the 1960s.

How Now Brown Frau, by Merridy Eastman. An actress in Sydney, Eastman resists wearing a dirndl to the very end in this lighthearted, wry take on relocating to Bavaria with her German fiancé and baby-on-the-way.

The Mountain: My Time on Everest, by Ed Viesturs. The only American to have climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks reflects on his relationship with the king of all mountains, which he has summited seven times.

Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins, by Gavin Francis. The Scotsman fulfills his childhood dream of living alongside emperor penguins when he gets assigned as base camp doctor at Halley, an uber-remote British research station in Antarctica. In fact, it’s so isolated that it’s said to be easier to evacuate a casualty from the International Space Station than it is from Halley in winter.

The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran, by Hooman Majd. In strictly media-censored Iran, the Supreme Leader has his own Twitter feed and Instagram account. This and other revelations can be found in this memoir by a longtime U.S. resident/Iranian journalist Majd who returns to live for a year in the country of his birth, bringing along his Midwestern wife and baby son.

What are you reading right now? Share your recommendations with the Intelligent Travel community in the comments section below or on Twitter by using the #TripLit hashtag.

Comments

Thank you for this great article. I would also like to add to the list couple of Howard Norman books for the travelers of North such as Nothern Lights or a Bird Artist. For Europe travels, I find nothing to be a better companion than any story book of Thomas Mann. (http://www.burcubasar.com)

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